,IZABETH0EAK ,IZABETH0EAK #ANCER #ANCER %LIZABETH3ILVERTHORNE %LIZABETH3ILVERTHORNE Elizabeth Silverthorne Cancer © 2009 Gale, Cengage Learning ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photo- copying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permit- ted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, with- out the prior written permission of the publisher. Every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyrighted material. Lucent Books 27500 Drake Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48331 ISBN-13: 978-1-4205-0113-1 ISBN-10: 1-4205-0113-5 Silverthorne, Elizabeth, 1930– Cancer / by Elizabeth Silverthorne. p. cm. — (Diseases & disorders) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4205-0113-1 (hardcover) 1. Cancer—Juvenile literature. I. Title. RC264.S556 2009 616.99'4—dc22 2008047882 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 13 12 11 10 09 Foreword 4 Introduction Cells Gone Wild 6 Chapter One What Is Cancer? 9 Chapter Two Detecting and Treating Cancer 23 Chapter Three Preventing Cancer 38 Chapter Four Surviving Cancer 55 Chapter Five The Future Outlook for Cancer 73 Notes 88 Glossary 91 Organizations to Contact 93 For Further Reading 96 Index 98 Picture Credits 103 About the Author 104 Table of Contents 4 foreword “The Most Difficult Puzzles Ever Devised” Charles Best, one of the pioneers in the search for a cure for diabetes, once explained what it is about medical research that intrigued him so. “It’s not just the gratification of knowing one is helping people,” he confided, “although that probably is a more heroic and selfless motivation. Those feelings may enter in, but truly, what I find best is the feeling of going toe to toe with nature, of trying to solve the most difficult puzzles ever devised. The answers are there somewhere, those keys that will solve the puzzle and make the patient well. But how will those keys be found?” Since the dawn of civilization, nothing has so puzzled people— and often frightened them, as well—as the onset of illness in a body or mind that had seemed healthy before. A seizure, the inability of a heart to pump, the sudden deterioration of muscle tone in a small child—being unable to reverse such conditions or even to understand why they occur was unspeakably frustrating to healers. Even before there were names for such conditions, even before they were understood at all, each was a reminder of how complex the human body was, and how vulnerable. While our grappling with understanding diseases has been frustrating at times, it has also provided some of humankind’s most heroic accomplishments. Alexander Fleming’s accidental discovery in 1928 of a mold that could be turned into penicillin has resulted in the saving of untold millions of lives. The isola- tion of the enzyme insulin has reversed what was once a death sentence for anyone with diabetes. There have been great strides in combating conditions for which there is not yet a cure, too. Medicines can help AIDS patients live longer, diagnostic tools such as mammography and ultrasounds can help doctors find tumors while they are treatable, and laser surgery techniques have made the most intricate, minute operations routine. This “toe-to-toe” competition with diseases and disorders is even more remarkable when seen in a historical continuum. An astonishing amount of progress has been made in a very short time. Just two hundred years ago, the existence of germs as a cause of some diseases was unknown. In fact, it was less than 150 years ago that a British surgeon named Joseph Lister had difficulty persuading his fellow doctors that washing their hands before delivering a baby might increase the chances of a healthy delivery (especially if they had just attended to a diseased patient)! Each book in Lucent’s Diseases and Disorders series ex- plores a disease or disorder and the knowledge that has been accumulated (or discarded) by doctors through the years. Each book also examines the tools used for pinpointing a di- agnosis, as well as the various means that are used to treat or cure a disease. Finally, new ideas are presented—techniques or medicines that may be on the horizon. Frustration and disappointment are still part of medicine, for not every disease or condition can be cured or prevented. But the limitations of knowledge are being pushed outward constantly; the “most difficult puzzles ever devised” are finding challengers every day. Foreword 5 6 Cells Gone Wild Cancer occurs when cells in the body multiply wildly and abnormally. It is a serious, frightening disease. Cancer can oc- cur in almost any part of the human body. Most often cancers attack middle-aged and older adults, but some kinds of cancer may strike at any age. Cancer affects people all over the world. Though not conta- gious, it is a common disease. More than 10 million new cases are diagnosed each year, and more than half of these victims will die from the disease. In the United States cancer is the second leading cause of death, exceeded only by heart disease. More than half a million Americans die of cancer each year. At some time in their lives, almost everyone in the country will be touched by the disease—either through their own illness or that of someone they love. A cancer diagnosis is scary, but not nearly as scary as it was a few decades ago. In May 2008, a seventy-six-year-old man lay in a hospital bed watching his favorite baseball team, the Boston Red Sox, play the Kansas City Royals. The man was Senator Edward Kennedy, who had been admitted to the hos- pital for testing and would be diagnosed with brain cancer. The pitcher for the Red Sox was twenty-four-year-old Jon Lester, who had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma less than two years earlier. Kennedy cheered as Lester pitched a no-hitter. In Major League Baseball history, there have been many no-hitters, but this one seemed like a miracle to baseball InTroduCTIon fans. After being treated with chemotherapy, Lester was back on the mound—soon becoming the first Red Sox southpaw to pitch a no-hitter in more than fifty years. After the game, Lester spoke with reporters about his ordeal in battling cancer. “It was a long road back,” he told them, adding, “I’m just glad that I’m here at this moment right now.” 1 The day after Kennedy was released from the hospital to return home and consider his options for treatment, he went sailing—a favorite activity. Cells Gone Wild 7 Jon Lester celebrates after pitching a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals on May 19, 2008. He had been diagnosed with cancer less than two years earlier. 8 Cancer Whether they are young or old, cancer patients—like Lester and Kennedy—want to live their lives as normally as possible. People with cancer need the support of their families and friends to help them in what is often a long and painful fight, and they need to be included as much as possible in activities they enjoy. In 1971 the United States government declared a war on can- cer. Since then, billions of dollars have been spent to find new weapons to fight the disease. Many scientists have spent mil- lions of hours trying to find better ways of treating it. Others have spent countless hours trying to find more effective ways to prevent cancer. Since the late twentieth century, tremen- dous progress has been made in detecting and treating cancer. Doctors and patients no longer accept a cancer diagnosis as an inevitable death sentence. In the twenty-first century, more patients are surviving cancer than ever before. Scientists still do not know why some people get certain cancers and others do not. They do know, however, that many cancers are preventable. It has been proven that avoiding known risk factors such as tobacco smoke, excess sunlight, and some chemicals and pollutants could prevent about half the cancers that occur. A harmful lifestyle that includes poor diet, lack of exercise, and alcohol abuse may put a person at risk. As Donna Bozzone of Saint Michael’s College says, “People have tremendous power to reduce their chances of developing cancer by making good health and lifestyle deci- sions. Even if treatments become perfect, prevention is still preferable to avoid the anxiety of a diagnosis and the potential pain of treatment.” 2 Although tremendous progress has been made in understand- ing cancer, it is still a mysterious disease in many ways. There are lots of myths and misconceptions about it, but doctors believe the more people are informed about the disease and its risks, the better chance they have of escaping or surviving it. 9 ChapTer one What Is Cancer? Cancer is not a single disease; it is a name given to at least two hundred different diseases. Cancer occurs when normal cells in the body behave in abnormal ways. The human body consists of trillions of cells that are so tiny they can only be seen under a microscope. The organs and tissues of the body are made up of groups of these cells. All cells reproduce by dividing—a process called mitosis. Usually, when cells are no longer needed by the body for growth or repair of tissues, they die. Some cells, however, continue to divide and refuse to die when they are no longer needed. Each cancer starts with one cell that reproduces uncontrol- lably. This behavior is called mutation. As the out-of-control mutant cells pile up, they form masses called tumors. When these tumors become aggressive and invasive, they are said to be malignant, or cancerous. Cancer can develop in almost any organ or tissue of the body. From its original site, a cancer may spread, or metastasize, to other parts of the body. When this happens, the cancer is more difficult to treat and may become life threatening. Normal Cells and Cancer Cells Normal cells and cancer cells are different in several ways. Normal cells reproduce themselves exactly and stop reproduc- ing when they are supposed to. They self-destruct when they have completed their job or if they become damaged. Cancer cells keep on reproducing and do not obey signals to stop. [...]... originate in connective and supporting tissues, such as bones, cartilage, nerves, and fat In addition to bone cancer, sarcomas include cancer of skeletal muscles and Kaposi’s sarcoma, a skin cancer that sometimes appears in AIDS patients Sarcomas are usually divided into two main types: bone sarcomas and soft tissue sarcomas Together, they make up fewer than 1 percent of cancers Cancers of the blood cells... environment Compared to tumors that occur sporadically, the actual number of cases of familial cancer is quite small There are, however, certain types of cancer that occur more often in families These include some cancers of the breast, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, cancer of the colon, skin cancers, and an eye cancer called retinoblastoma Genetic testing for the more common oncogenes is possible today... intimate knowledge of this enemy and are using it to outmaneuver these deadly cells—prolonging life and improving cure rates for thousands of patients.”3 chapter TWO Detecting and Treating Cancer T he earlier a cancer is detected, the better a person’s chances are of a full recovery For many cancers, early treatment can prevent the cancer from growing, invading other organs, and spreading to other parts... have had cancer and what kind of cancer they had Doctors know that some types of mutated genes can be passed from parents to children They are aware that patients with a family history of certain cancers are more vulnerable to that type of cancer But they also know that although patients with a family history of cancer are at higher risk, they are not destined to develop cancer Sometimes cancers that... breast cancer Or if a cancer starts in the stomach and spreads to the liver, it is still classified as stomach cancer It is important to doctors treating the cancer to identify the origin of the cancer so they can decide how to treat it This is because the organs of the body are made up of different What Is Cancer? 15 types of cells that behave in different ways They may grow at different speeds and be... contract Hodgkin’s disease than those who have not Dealing with Cancer Cancer is a very complicated disease It appears in many shapes and forms and has many tricks and ways of surviving All the problems involved in preventing, diagnosing, and treating it will take many more years to solve However, as Barbara Basler says in “Good News About Cancer : Cancer is still a formidable foe, but in the last few years... diagnosed and treated for a form of lymphoma called non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma This illustration shows a carcinoma on the stomach wall Carcinomas account for about 85 to 90 percent of all cancers Estimated Deaths by Gender and Type of Cancer, 2008 18 Cancer Cancer Causes: Heredity or Environment? It has been established by experts that cancers can be familial, or inherited, or sporadic, occurring at random... cervical cancer In this test, a doctor scrapes sample cells from the cervix, which is located at the top of the vagina The cells are then checked by microscopic examination for cancer or changes that may lead to cancer In older men, prostate cancer is common, and there are several effective screening tests for this type of cancer There are also several methods of screening for colon cancer Diagnosing Cancer. .. chemotherapy and/ or radiation treatment may be used to kill any stray cancer cells that have escaped from the tumor The kind of treatment recommended will depend on the patient’s age, health, and medical history as well as on the type of cancer, how much it has grown, and whether or not it has spread from its original location Surgery Surgery is the oldest type of cancer treatment, and it is still the first and. .. busy trying to keep up with classwork and the lab experiments he was doing in connection with mice and cancer drugs Finally, though, when he developed night sweats and could barely drag himself through the day, he went to the school’s doctor Tests revealed he had Hodgkin’s disease, a malignant 26 Cancer disease of the lymphatic system Clark’s cancer was extensive, and he underwent a series of chemotherapy . 6 Chapter One What Is Cancer? 9 Chapter Two Detecting and Treating Cancer 23 Chapter Three Preventing Cancer 38 Chapter Four Surviving Cancer 55 Chapter Five The Future Outlook for Cancer 73 Notes. parts of the body. When this happens, the cancer is more difficult to treat and may become life threatening. Normal Cells and Cancer Cells Normal cells and cancer cells are different in several. and the organs of the digestive and reproductive systems. 16 Cancer Sarcomas originate in connective and supporting tissues, such as bones, cartilage, nerves, and fat. In addition to bone cancer,